Volunteers from the Homestead National Monument of America toured the Kregel Windmill Factory Museum Thursday.

Susan Cook, park ranger and volunteer manager at the Beatrice monument, said volunteers take a training trip every few years.“We take the trips for training and windmills are a part of the homestead heritage,” she said.

Dan Swanson

Volunteers from the Homestead National Monument of America toured the Kregel Windmill Factory Museum Thursday.

Susan Cook, park ranger and volunteer manager at the Beatrice monument, said volunteers take a training trip every few years.“We take the trips for training and windmills are a part of the homestead heritage,” she said.

The gorup of 42 also toured the GAR Hall Civil War Museum.

Cook noted that the homestead act had been debated by Congress for 38 years, but was only passed when the South was defeated in the Civil War.

The museum, which opened last fall, depicts early-century windmill manufacturing.